ISTANBUL 

Israeli forces arrested four young men after infiltrating the Quneitra countryside in southern Syria in a new violation of that country’s sovereignty, media reports said Thursday.

An Israeli unit made up of five military vehicles established a checkpoint at the al-Kasarat junction on the road linking Jbata al-Khashab and Ain al-Bayda, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Soldiers checked the identities of people passing through, then detained the four men from Jbata and took them to the al-Hamidiyah location, the agency added.

On Tuesday, Israeli army forces staged three incursions into Quneitra, despite an official announcement that a new round of negotiations between Damascus and Tel Aviv had begun under US mediation, focusing on reviving a 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli or Syrian authorities on the new raids.

Israeli forces have been carrying out near-daily incursions into Syrian territory, particularly in the Quneitra countryside, detaining civilians, setting up checkpoints, questioning those passing through and destroying farmland.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 agreement.